Most of our bags were packed and we were about ready to hit the road. Destination today was just under 200 miles away, Fort McCoy, Wisconsin. I spent 4 months there on a TDY assignment with the Army back in 1973. My first wife Chin and I were married just a couple of months prior to getting there so she went with me. We lived in a little house just out side of the base. Well that was a long time ago.
We were loading the last few things in the motorhome. Nancy was putting things in the refrigerator and I was putting some things away in the bedroom when all of a sudden the refrigerator door fell off. The bottom hinge just broke. OWFISH! It's made out of plastic and was only some 20 years old. It was bound to happen sooner or later. Stay calm I told myself. Lets see if I can find the parts to fix this thing.
While Nancy went to her nail appointment I got on the computer and started searching the internet for parts. I call the manufacturer and was told I was going to have to replace the whole door but they didn't have one, a dealer might be able to come up with one though. He gave me the name and number of a dealer in Rapid City, SD where I could have it fixed since our plans were to stop there for a few days. There was no door available. It was some 20 years old and discontinued years ago. OWFISH! My best bet was to try to find one in a RV salvage yard somewhere or replace the refrigerator with a new one. The replacement refrigerator was taller and deeper which would require some remodeling to get it in and then the retail price of it was some $4000. OWFISH! My best bet was to find a used refrigerator.
I got back on the computer searching the internet for a used refrigerator on ebay or somewhere. I found one at a RV salvage yard outside of Joplin, MO. $1500 and another $250 for truck shipping to Rapid City. But there was a RV shop right across the street from them who could install it for me. So... change of plans. We're not going to South Dakota and Montana like we had planned before heading to Tombstone. Got to be flexible while traveling in an old RV.
We were on the road by 12:30 with an appointment at the RV shop outside of Joplin. MO for Thursday morning to replace the refrigerator. I didn't know how far we were going to travel today, I just knew a direction. 350 miles later we pulled into a rest stop on I-480 between Cedar Rapids and Iowa City at 8:00 PM. Tomorrow we'll make an overnight stop in Independence, MO for some sightseeing. Wednesday we'll stop for the night at a RV park just down the road from the RV shop. I've been just about everywhere so we'll make a good trip out of this anyway.
No comments:
Post a Comment